The Ex (The Boss 4)

Neil nodded in agreement. “Valerie was thirty hours before they took Emma via cesarean.”

“Thirty hours?” My mind reeled. In the time I’d been with her, Emma had gone from peppy, but surly, to just plain miserable and emotionally exhausted. But Neil didn’t need to know that. It would just worry him.

“It was the Demerol that slowed Valerie’s labor down, I’m sure of it.” Neil made a disgusted sound. “But I do wish Emma would take after her mother and get some kind of injection or spinal…thing.”

I felt like I’d been plunged into an alien world, where the language sounded similar to English, but I couldn’t understand any of the words. Sort of like going to Iceland, actually. “Any news on Valerie?”

“She’s on the way. Her flight left just after midnight.” Neil checked his watch. “I suppose it’s just a race against the clock now.”

After a while, it started to become clear that Valerie was not going to be there on time. At around six, Emma went into something called “transition”, and everything turned into the horror show of labor from the movies. Except, it wasn’t funny. She didn’t threaten to kill Michael, or crush his hand really hard. It was more that she grabbed the bed rails and writhed and cried.

Michael stayed by her side, pressing cool cloths to her forehead and murmuring encouragement, and I sat there, not sure if I should stay or go. When I got up to leave, she threw a hand out. “No, no.”

“Okay, I’ll stay here, then.” I rubbed my hands on the thighs of my jeans and bounced nervously in the chair. “Let me just step outside for a phone call. I’ll be right, right back.”

In the hallway, I dialed my mom’s cell and shuffled the balls of my feet waiting for her to answer. “Mom!”

“Sophie?” In all the drama, I’d forgotten that people who weren’t watching their soon-to-be stepdaughter having a baby would possibly be asleep. “What’s going on?”

“Emma is having her baby. And I’m here. Well, not, like, here here. I’m in the hallway, and I’m super freaking out.” I lowered my voice and hoped Emma hadn’t heard me. “It looks like it hurts a lot.”

“It does hurt a lot,” Mom said sternly. “Apparently, you weren’t listening when I told you that over and over when you were in high school.”

“Yeah, I know. That has formed a lot of choices since then.” I hoped I sounded more tired than crabby. “I am just not mentally prepared to be here, doing this.”

“Does Emma want you there?” Mom asked, ever practical.

“Yeah. Why, I have no idea, but she wants me there with her.” I paused. “Maybe just to keep Neil out? Or because her

mom can’t be here.”

“Oh, that’s a shame. Your grandma stayed with me the entire time I was having you,” Mom told me, as though I’d never heard the story of my own birth before. “Of course, it was to tell me that I’d gotten myself into this on my own, and I had to live with the consequences.”

“I feel bad for Valerie. She’s going to miss the birth of her first grandkid.” Maybe the birth of her only grandkid. Emma had gone through so much to conceive this baby, and there was no guarantee she’d have the same luck twice.

“Don’t you have something on your phone to record it? Like an app, or a scripe or something?”

“It’s not scripe, it’s called—” Skype! “Mom, that’s fucking genius.”

“Sophie Anne, I will wash your mouth out with soap!”

“Sorry.” I glanced back at the door. “I’m gonna go. I just needed to talk to someone who sounds like they aren’t under assloads of stress.” I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see me. “I needed to hear my mom’s voice, actually.”

“You can call me back if you need to.” Her voice was gentle and soft, the way it always sounded when I needed comfort.

“Okay, Mom. I’ll talk to you later.”

Despite all the ways she annoyed me, she was my mom. And she’d gone through what Emma was going through, right now, to have me. I was going to give her the biggest hug when I saw her.

Bolstered by Mom’s brilliant idea, I slipped quietly back into the room and motioned Michael over.

“Hey, my mom had an idea, so Valerie doesn’t miss the birth,” I whispered, and held up my phone. “We can Skype her.”

“Can she do that on a plane?” he asked, and as if on cue, Neil was at the door.

“Hey, do you know if Valerie can Skype from the plane?” I asked.

Neil shook his head. “Not from a commercial flight, no. But she should be landing any time now.”